“We are definitely not as big up front. But we’re pretty quick and athletic,” Richt said. “So it’s gonna be interesting to see how we’ll hold up against a smash-mouth team and all that kind of thing as the season goes on. But we certainly have got some guys that can really run.”

Is that “interesting” in the sense that the defensive staff has its work cut out fashioning a stout run defense, or is that “interesting” in the Chinese curse sense?

And, yes, I know it’s ridiculously early to be fretting about this stuff.

23 responses to “Things you don’t necessarily want to hear on the first day of spring practice after giving up 350 rushing yards in the SECCG.”

Trying to be an optimist, perhaps our offensive line is just getting that much of a push off the line of scrimmage. Not that they do 1’s vs. 1’s at the start of spring practice but trying to be more of a glass half full guy this year.

Smaller/quicker and 3-4 are mutually exclusive terms when it comes to stopping a smash mouth run game (Alabama). We went to it to combat the spread of the Spread now we are doomed to face Alabama and be crushed. Ah but if we can come up with 8 or 9 really great DL men then we may have a sluggers chance.

I don’t think it’s too early to worry about this for the Bama game, but do we play that many other smash mouth teams? LSU is probably the only other one, but I ran through the schedule in my head pre-coffee.

I read further down the article. Does anyone think Clemons could be the next player to be Tripped? If he’s going to play LB, beef him up to support the run game and allow him to cover backs and tight ends. If he’s going to play strong safety, let him play at his current size and be able to walk him up to the LOS.

I am taking the high road on this “weaknes”, quicker and more athletic has to be better than what we saw against the power run last year. Big slugs did not create enough of a pile up, nor keep blockers off our ILBs. I think we will see improvement against the run in 2013, how can we not? As embarrassed as that unit was in 2012, I think CTG will tweak the scheme and put a more motivated group on the field.

My bigger defensive concerns are about pass coverage, UGA has been weak against the pass for several years, imo. We have potential with this group but UGA seems to prefer playing loose on the first ten yards (yet still manages to get beat deep) and our LBs never seem to be nearby on crossing routes. Our pass rush camouflaged some of these coverage issues and we had a couple of good ball hawks in the secondary, but we were not well positioned. Fortunately, we did not face a team with as good a passing attack as our own, TN was the closest on last year’s schedule.

Guess I don’t let the stats dictate how I feel because there are so many variables you have to look beyond the headlines. I recall way too many 3rd and longs blown by the pass defense, and missed, wide-open receivers. We played two teams which ran the Triple option and barely attempted passes, three other teams with incompetent QBs (Auburn, Kentucky, and Florida), and a team which had such a big lead early they spent most of the game trying to run the clock out (South Carolina). Not saying we were as bad as some other teams but statistics don’t tell the whole story and we were a Top 5 team so I expect more from us. Also, we were one of the better pass rushing teams which benefited the coverage guys. Respect other opinions but my bigger concern is pass coverage.

You will recall, though, that Alabama totally abandoned the pass because they didn’t like their chances with it, and that they were one of the highest-rated passing offenses in the country. Sacks and defensive-line pressure are part of pass defense too.

Saban is human after all and he wants what apparently every coach except for the Genius wants and that is BALANCE. He started this year with a QB he trusted and he ran an O that ran the play action passes. All coaches abandon BALANCE if one phase of the game is dominating except maybe Bobo.